Adebayor would ‘play for nothing’, says Sherwood

Villa were heavily linked with the Togo forward in the summer transfer window, but Adebayor’s reluctance to leave White Hart Lane unless the remainder of his contract was paid in full acted as an obstacle for any potential deal.

The 31-year-old has since been released from his Spurs contract, and will now be able to pursue a move to another club when the transfer window re-opens in January.

Speaking before news of Adebayor’s release broke, Sherwood admitted he would be keen to revisit his interest in the striker when possible.

“I would not hesitate,” Sherwood said. “If he had the desire to want to come and play football again, I would have taken him in a heartbeat.

“It’s not financial. It’s easy to say that when you’re on his money, but he would genuinely play for nothing,” Sherwood said of Adebayor, who was on £100,000-a-week at Spurs.

“If he wanted to play in Qatar he would have gone there a long time ago. It’s hard to say,” Sherwood insisted. “We still have to respect his decision, whatever he makes. It’s his – I can’t influence it.”